Mist, Storm, and Phantom
by Skystar5
Summary: Kaliska fell into the darkness and now searches only for a way out. But falling deep makes it hard to climb out. But when the opportunity arises, will Kaliska help her new Fairy Tail friends? Or will comforts of the Night call her back again?
1. Prologue

Prologue

It was that one last shriek that drove me away. One last metallic, blood-curdling shriek that shredded the air. I dared to look back. That was my mistake. Alveri floated in the air, indigo energy wrapped around her. Black lightning intertwined, strangling her. The snow-haired girl's back arched, head thrown head, her violet eyes blank with pain. She screamed again, tears streaming down her face.

She… tried to he- In the shadows, I knelt to the ground, my body racked with silent sobs. She tried… to help… me. An empty thunk echoed in the clearing and I glanced up. Through blurry tear-streaked vision, I saw Alveri lying on the trampled grass, unmoving. Her were glazed over, still filled with torment.

"You see this Kaliska?" The black-robed mage shouted. "This is escape!" He let out an awful cackle. "You wanted to leave! And this is the price! THERE IS NO ESCAPE!" With blue-horror filled eyes, I watch him approach the fallen mage. With a menacing sneer, he kicked Alveri. I recoiled as if hit me. Arms crossed over my stomach, I willed myself still. Alveri helped me with all her strength. I would not let her down now. "Come out Kali-chan!" I pushed down a growl that rose in my throat. I was _not _his friend. Atleast, not anymore. He shouted to the clearing again.

"Kali-chan! Come out! This is just senseless suffering. Come back. You used to trust me. What changed?" I gazed out from behind the undergrowth, a true sorrow flickered in his green eyes. I would have jumped out had I not known the truth. He didn't love me, I was just a lost piece to his collection.

"Mist-wolf track." I whispered and formed my hand into a claw shape. Smokey tendrils of mist formed at my fingertips. It leaked into the clearing, clinging to the earth. Hiroki remained oblivious. He continued to search in the deep woods, looking above my head and cover-up. When the dark mage turned to scour to opposite side of the woods, I bolted. With silent footsteps, I tore off into the dark of night.

Black lightning streaked by me, and adrenaline slithered into my veins and my speed picked up. Hiroki screeched my name, and footsteps told me that he was following hot on my tail.

"Phantom-wolf Guard." I murmured and familiar panting sounded behind me. Two wolves made of pale purple haze with ebony bones sprinted alongside me. Pain speared my heart as I whispered the target. "Hiroki." The two creatures stopped and fell behind me. They out a ghostly howl, and the hunt began. Swallowing, I continued loping along, searching the area for somewhere to stay. Hiroki was weak, he would give up soon. The wolves contained more power than Hiroki ever would. Unfortunately, a lot of my magic swirled together to form that defense. I needed to rest, soon. Hopefully all my previous knowledge of the dark mage proved true and he turned back. A scream echoed in the distance, a submissive whimper followed. I gritted my teeth and looked around. I darted into the shadows of a shallow cave and let mist seep from my fingers. I covered the area thinly and hoped it would distort the shadows even more. Now I just needed… re… I collapsed before I could finish my thought.

**Hi world! So I'm back and this time with "Fairy Tail" Fanfiction! So now I'm proving that I'm not just a bookworm, I'm anime geek too! I know… I just keep getting cooler, right? So I will admit that I tend to be bad with updating. So bear with me, review every once in a while to keep me writing, and overall enjoy! :D I want to hear criticism and always want to know how to make my writing better. **

**Second, many of you probably clicked this title thinking "Woah, this sounds interesting." Don't get too attached. Most likely this will be a temporary title until I think of a **_**good **_**one. **

**I think that covers everything… But anyways readers!**

**Dream big and write on!**

**-Skystar **


	2. Chapter 1- A Walk in the Woods

Chapter 1

"Ug! Are we there yet?" Natsu complained, yawning as he walked. Erza rolled her eyes and plodded forward stoically. My legs ached as well, but I knew better than to complain. Natsu couldn't stand vehicles therefore we got walk to our latest mission. Joy. I played around with my keys as I walked, disregarding any snide comments I had for Natsu. Dragonslayer or not, he still acted like an idiot most of the time. I smiled to myself, 'sure, he's an at least his heart in in the right place.' I glanced over at the pink-haired boy walking alongside Happy.

"I'm hungry!" He complained again, a frown replacing his grin.

"Ay!" Happy chimed in, absolutely not helping the situation. Wendy sighed, long blue hair shruggin up and down as she did so. Reaching around to a small pack on her shoulder, she dragged out a few pieces of jerky and pushed them in the older Dragonslayer direction. A bright smile lit up his face and scarfed down the bit of food.

"Ah… Still hungry." Yet he plodded along gleefully. Or at least in a better mood than before. Erza rolled her eyes again, this time shaking her head.

"Come on. It's not that much farther. We'll stop in a small while. Just shut up and walk forward." The sharp-eyed mage perked up stood full height. Gray, also walking along quietly in the back, stood up straight, a wild look in his eyes. No matter how long I was with Fairy Tail, I never seemed to adjust to the fear that the two mages had for Erza. I shook my head, blond wisps falling into my vision. I noticed Wendy mimicking my movements.

"Be on the lookout." The scarlet-haired mage ordered. "Attacks have been reported here. Something about ghosts."

"Ghosts?" Happy echoed fearfully, quivering slightly.

"Something of that nature. They were all hurt drastically, or start babbling about purple haze and glowing black bones with silver rims. Apparently some mages were given the request to capture the phantoms and they gave up."

"Weak." Gray snorted, though his pace slowed enough to remain behind Natsu and Erza. I on the other hand, had no qualms with showing fear.

"G-ghosts?!" A shiver traced down my spine.

"Don't worry Lucy!" Natsu gave one of his brilliant smiles. "I'll take 'em out, in fact jsut thinking about it gets me all fired up!" He pumped a fist into the air. "YEAH! Let's get some ghosts! Happy scout ahead."

"Wh-Why me?" The exeed complained, quivering turning into all out shivering.

"No one is going ahead. Natsu? What happened to being hungry?" The mage gazed at her quizzically, an expression that almost said, 'that-was-a-problem-for-five-minutes-ago'. But this was Natsu's expression, therefore it was a lot simpler than I would make it out to be.

"I'm too pumped to be-" the dragon-slayer stopped speaking as his stomach let out a rumble. "Never mind… But I'm still pumped!" The walked along with a pout on his face, countered by Gray's smirk. Drawing into deep breaths, the dragon-slayers ran ahead a short distance before stopping, his amber eyes were wide excitement.

"Smoke… Fire!" He announced gleefully bounding forward.

"Natsu!" I called out, "Don't just charge off like th-" I gave up, he was out of the earshot, leaving the rest of us behind. Motioning forward, Erza took off after the pink-haired mage, Gray close on her heels. Wendy and I looked at each other and shrugged, picking up speed to match everyone else's pace.

"Hey!" Happy pouted flying alongside us, "Don't forget me!"

"We didn't forget we just didn't consult you." I replied simply. The blue cat showed little appreciation for my answer. "Don't leave me! What about the ghosts?" Wendy seemed to remain calm through the whole jog.

"That's why we must go catch Natsu before he unnecessarily beats something up, he's more of the 'Punch first, question later' type person." The young mage panted after her explanation, pace unable to match the older's.

As natsu came into view, we all stumbled to a still. Or to be more specific, Gray and Erza quit the sprint calm and gracefully, Wendy and I halted in a zig-zagging line completely out of breath. Happy crashed into a tree.

"Look!" Natsu pointed out. Beyond the line of thin trees was a campfire. Perched on an old log, roasting something-or-other in the flames, a girl tranquillity sat. "You think she'd share her flames?" Natsu honestly asked. Apparently in his world, a stranger in the middle of the woods bursting out and asking to eat your fire was completely normal. This girl seemed to live in the universe the rest of of us lived in.

Stepping past Gray, I looked a little closer at the girl. She was tall, but no other features gave away the appearance of an adult. Her hair carried a breezy look, like she just ran against the wind. The shine reflected off the indigo color, and from the side I was able to make out icy blue eyes. A tendril of hair crossed her face, though she made no effort to remove it. She was thin, but not in a pretty way, the hunger gleaming in her eyes proved that the… something-or-other on a stick was the first morsel she'd seen in a while.

"Going in!" Natsu announced energetically.

"NO." Erza pulled him backwards, but not fast enough. The bushes rustled ever so slightly, and the girl looked up. Fear glazed over her eyes, and she threw the meat in the fire. She turned and gazed directly at us. A shiver moved down and back and through my body. It appeared she was sizing us up, calculating. Admittedly, a little creepy. She stood, focus still directed at our party, I couldn't help notice the smears of dirt on her face, or the thin cuts along her arms. SIlently, she whirled around and bolted in the opposite direction.

Of course Natsu jumped right towards the empty campfire, sniffing tentatively. Waving a hand through it, we all gasped.

"It's cold." He proclaimed and as his hand touched the flames, they turned blue, the edges emitting a golden color. One by one, we each filed into the vacant area. Gray stuck his hand in the fire and sifted it in his hands.

"It's weird." The ice mage thought out loud. "It.. almost feels… wet. But, if you stand away, looks normal and radiates heat!" Natsu leaned closer and gingerly opened his mouth to nibble the flames. "Don't eat it idiot!" The fire mage squinted and sat back on his heels.

"And why not, droopy-eyes?"

"Don't you have enough of a brain to know that you don't eat strange fires?"

"I have eaten plenty of strange fires and made it this far!" In the back, Happy was white and quivered, his eyes were big and blank.

"G-g-g-g-gho- Ghost! Natsu don't eat the ghost fire!" He barreled over to his best friend and nearly knocked him over. Taken aback by the random flying cat to the stomach, Natsu stayed silent.

"Happy," Erza started. "That wasn't a ghost. If it was the thing attacking travelers, it would have attacked us. Come on, this is strange, but we still have a request to fill. She sauntered off in the direction of the strange character. Wendy followed obediently, and Gray stood to follow suit. The fire mage frowned and continued to stare into the electric blue flames. I followed after the others, and called over my shoulder,

"Natsu! Don't eat it!" He grumbled a couple swear words underneath his breath, and stood up to trail behind the rest of us. The pink-haired boy glanced regretfully at the now normal colored fire, but Happy gripped his hand fearfully and tugged him along. He shook his head vigorously, barely any returning to his fur.I wanted to believe nothing suspicious was happening in these woods, but something was obviously off. And with our luck, we were going to find out.

**Well, I don't have much to say after this chapter, aside from "Thank you Kit-Kat Star" I always love reviews! So thank you everyone for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! :D**

**Dream big and write on!**

**-Skystar **


	3. Chapter 2- Collaboration

Chapter 2

I collapsed forwards sighing as I fell. I was aware that I often complained to Mirajane about my lack of rent money. But you couldn't officially finish a mission in "Fairytail's Strongest Team" without destroying something. This time is was a quaint little shop that sold fossils and little crafts. Half of the reward went into rebuilding that little cabin, and once we split it up between our whole team, plus Wendy who came along. Not to mention Happy, who suddenly decided he wanted a share of the reward. Despite the fact of he was a blue. Flying. CAT! Urg.

"At this rate, I could get kicked out! I'm already a month behind!" I slammed a fist on the counter, and Mirajane giggled.

"Just try and take another request! That forest you banished the lyron from has really high jewel worth right now. The ghost sightings are scaring all the weaker mages off, and even strong mages are struggling." I shuddered slightly at the memory of the little winged creatures. The mention of our latest mission, recalled all the pain of the lyron. They looked so sweet an innocent! With pale-blue bodies, stubby arms and butterfly wings… Then it turned around and bit you with two rows of tiny razor teeth! I winced, and glance down and my bandaged wrist. Three days later, it still hurt. Luckily Natsu blasted them before they did too much damage. I still believe that setting fire to the nearest acre was a bit… exorbitant.

"Lu-Chan!" a high pitched voice called. I swiveled around to see a smiling face and a waving hand. Levy called out walking over, wild blue hair tied together with a golden ribbon. "How are you Lu-chan?"

"Lucy." Gazille materialized behind the shorter girl. He didn't seem to want to be social, but he had no will to leave Levy alone. I smiled back and nodded in the iron dragon's direction. He slumped in the shadows, against a wall. Levy however, stalked right up and took a seat.

"Hi Lu-chan! How was your mission?" I sighed loudly and explained the predicament.  
"And so, I only ended up getting a third of the reward I deserve!" I slouched and allowed my chin to rest on the bar. Levy gave the same reaction as Mirajane. She giggled cutely as if losing my apartment wasn't a big deal.

"Well, We have some time between missions, why don't you join Shadow Gear for a spell? We're planning on investigating the ghost sightings! It'll be fun! And you could get ideas for your novel!"

"Hm…" I thoughtfully placed a hand to my chin.

"What are we investigating?" Natsu strode over, a goofy smile painting his face. "Ghosts? Sounds fun! I'm in!"

"Well you don't plan on fire-face over here without me, do ya?" Gray stood up from his stool a few seats away. Looking away, Levy murmured,

"Uh… Gray." He looked towards his feet and gasped.

"I'll be right back!" And he skittered away. Hopefully in search of a shirt. And pants. Cana strode up, a questioning look playing across her hair. Gazille shook his head, wild ebony mane flying around.  
"I told you , we should keep quiet."

Juvia burst in, her blue curls bouncing as she jogged up.

"I'll go if Gray-sama's going!" A brilliant smile took over her face, and Gray returned to the group, glancing her way nervously. His footsteps slowed to nearly silent, and he ducked into the shadows by Gazille. The clink of armor alerted everyone to Erza's arrival. She remained solemn as she approached.

"With all the reports of tough mages being taken out, a bigger group would be better." She slipped into a stool next to Levy. The Solid-script mage nodded understandingly.

"I agree!" After the words were spoken, Jet and Droy rushed up.

"Wait!" Jet shouted looking around at the large group of people who now gathered. "You can't be serious! This is way too many people! Gazille? Don't you agree?" The iron dragon slayer looked up, no emotion in his dark eyes.

"I agree with Levy." Droy's jaw dropped, and Jet stared blankly.

"WHAT!? Gazille! You've gotten soft since you and Levy became a couple!" Gazille shifted his gaze to the pudgy mage calmly, but questioningly, with strong arms still crossed, Gazille stood to full height. He looked down on Jet and Droy, emotion vaguely flickering in his eyes.

"You were saying?" And the Shadow Gear members cowered turned their plea toward Levy.

"Levy! You can't be serious about all these people! At this rate the entire of fairy tail will be coming to investigate!" The blue-haired mage seemed puzzle with her friends complaints.

"Well, if you're not happy, then you don't have to join us. You two can work on an assignment that has a reward at the end."

"Maybe we will!" The orange- hair mage nodded, pony-tail bobbing as he did so.

"Ye- wait we are?" Droy was unsatisfied with the answer his partner gave. Jet flicked his head around quickly, a glare set on his face. Maybe this mission would take more talking out than we thought…

* * *

In the end we finally settled on a team. Levy, Erza and I made up the female half, and Natsu, Gray, Gazille and Happy created the rest of the team. My hopes for not destroying anything dried up quickly as I noticed the looks flashing between the three human men. Thank the stars Happy was oblivious to it all. Otherwise, he would side with Natsu, and Gray and Gazille would team up just for the sake of being against the fire mage… Long story short, there would be high likelihood of a small _war_ breaking out.

While the silence crept in, only to be taken away by our steady footfalls. I soaked in the golden sunlight, that dappled my skin and painted the leafy breezes. So far nothing strange occurred. Explaining the encounter of the odd girl in the woods from our lyron mission. After wandering a while,we discovered that apparently Gray can_not_ remember exactly where we were when Natsu took off in the scent of smoke.

"Let's figure out where we are." Erza commanded. "Levy?" The short mage nodded and gazed down at her hands.  
"MAP." Her words materialized in a tannish color, they flattened as they floated down. Splotches of color pinpointed and spread like watercolors. Eventually 'Map' showed the forest. In her other hand, the blue-haired girl held her thumb and pointer finger a half inch a part murmuring "Pencil." as she moved them up closer to her face. The words swirled into a cylinder and a thin,sharpened pencil was formed comfortably in her grip.

"So we are here." She marked an X by a large obvious lump of pine trees. I surveyed the area and for the first time, and realized the big group of tall pines behind us. "And where was your… encounter?" Erza accepted the pencil and tapped it thoughtfully against her hand.

"I remember!" Natsu shouted, snagging the red pencil. Tongue tip sticking out the side of his mouth in concentration, he delicately circled… a quarter of the map. We all groaned simultaneously. Apparently Natsu didn't remember.

**So... Hi world! Thanks again Kit-Catstar for reviewing. I really appreciate your support! :D **

**A note to readers: I do not not speak Japanese, therefore all manga/anime I read/watch is subtitled or translated. And translators switch name spellings. So that is why I choose to spell Gazille... well... _Gazille_ opposed to Gajeel. Or Loki vs. Loke, Juvia vs. Lluvia, Laxus vs. Luxus, Ur vs. Ul... The list goes on. So bare with me, usally my option fall between to spellings and I chose _my_ favorite, not the most popular. So thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the story! :D**

**Dream big and write on!**

**-Skystar **


	4. Chapter 3- Melting Snow

Chapter 3

After I woke up, I ventured back out to the clearing. It broke my heart all over again to see Alveri laying helpless, motionless, breathless. I closed my eyes and swallowed, arms crossing over my twisting stomach. I couldn't trust anymore. Not if this was their fate. Either way, I'm more of a lone wolf. It wouldn't be hard to seal myself off. I dug out a shallow grave and covered the snow-mage's body. Before the dirt covered her completely, I made a split-second decision and gently removed her pendent. It was a low hanging yin-yang symbol, the entire shape circled in a silver band. The center curve also was silver, as well as each dot in the placed in the opposite color. She always wore it. Claiming "You take the sweet with the sour, the day and the night, the good with the bad." She was so easy going. So…

Tears dripped down my cheeks before I realized what happened. I looked down at the pendant in my hand. Three weeks later and I still couldn't think about burying my friend without crying. I sank down against a nearby tree head in my hands. I dared emit sound with my sobs this time, my whole body shaking. I peered upwards to the specks of blue dappling the leaf-cover. I cupped my hands in front of me and concentrated hard. Alveri had tried to teach me snow magic, and I nearly was able to create with it, but now I had no chance. A silvery frost touched the bottom of my palms, and a few stray snow crystals floated in a pale blue-ish light. But I let out my breath I didn't realize I was holding in, and dropped my hands. The light dissipated instantly, and my hands warmed quickly in the sun. I found myself panting, and I tried to recuperate the lost energy. Hopefully nothing tried to attack me.

After escaping him, Hiroki sent a stream of mages to find and defeat me. I was one of the strongest at his precious "guild". So me being defeated? While high on adrenaline and fear? When hell froze over.

Though most mages just started staying away. My Phantom wolves scared them so much that few dared venture out this far. There was a big group a few days ago, but I ran before they could attack. The constant lineup of challenges left me weak, with little time to restore. I guaranteed wouldn't have been able to take on all five of them. They were also from Fairy Tail, one of the strongest guilds in The Kingdom of Fiore. Even I am incapable of competing with those odds.

My hand was in pocket, fiddling with the few jewels I had left. I began to wander towards Magnolia. It was the closest city, and had some pretty cheap shops. I could get some food… and build up a fire.. heat it- Heat… Fire! Oh, crap, did I leave the fire assembled from a few days ago? I turned tail and bolted in the opposite direction. If they saw the soot, and stone circle, not to mention the magic trail I left behind with the mist-flame.

After a few minutes of panicked sprinted, I burst into the clearing. Sure enough, there where I left it was a ring of neat stones, with matted ash in the center, still holding a bit of moisture that drifted over when the corner of the forest was hosed out from the forest fire. No doubt from that Fairytail fire mage. He was too powerful for his own good. Ug, here was all us hard-working, making ourselves strong as possible, and he was just powerful, trained a bit and became even more powerful, took out a villain, destroyed something and he gained another level of strength. Please, where is the fairness in that?

I shook away the thoughts and buried myself in sweeping apart the traces of my presence. I dreamed about the possibility of Hiroki giving up. If only it were possible.

**So... Yeah this a short chapter, but Kaliska's chapters will short for awhile to keep the mystery, and Lucy is clueless so she gets longer chapters :D See the logic? Thank Dragonfriend4 for reviewing, I love reviews and I'm glad to se people are reading it. **

**Peace out world! :P**

**-Skystar**


	5. Chapter 4- I won't go back

Chapter 4

Eventually we sent Happy into the air. He pointed out the corner of blackened forest. We wandered in that direction and were now trekking the the charred trees.

"Remind me again why we're walking circles?" Gray questioned, eyes wide annoyance.

"Because a certain someone decided to play know-it-all. And failed." I remarked looking over not so subtly at Natsu. He followed the flying exeed happily, the ashes of his "work" bringing joy. We'd been wandering for quite some time, merely trying to find the direction we came from the first time. Once we found our original path, our group just assumed we would eventually hit the clearing where we met the girl. Our two dragonslayers would scent track and see what we can find out. For such a simple plan, there was a lot of walking involved. And no pay at the end. Needless to say, my spirit was falling. Natsu was practically skipping, energy not a matter to him. Levy was in a similar mood, flouncing along happily, occasionally shooting goo-goo eyes at Gazille.

"Wait!" Gray called, pausing and looking off to the side. "I recognize that rock from before!" Five heads turned excitedly, and we crept closer to the small boulder. Now that he mentioned it, the awkward granite formation did seem familiar. Gray and I had sat there after the fire control came keep Natsu from burning the forest down. Erza paced around the rock inspecting it carefully.

"Now which way did we arrive from?" She thoughtly placed a hand to her chin. She muttered indistinctively, pointing occasionally in various directions.

"Haven't we 'Investigated" enough?" I cringed, five harsh gazes whipped round and landed on me. Apparently, we were not done investigating the forest.

"We're so close to finding the mysterious girl! Don't you want to know why she's hiding out in a forest supposedly filled with ghosts taking out strong mages?" Natsu asked, his mouth open wide, small fangs showing. "Don't you want to take out these so called 'Ghosts'?" I tilted my head, grudgingly agreeing that I wanted to know more about the dark haired girl. It flickered in her eyes, fear when she saw us coming. Like she thought we would attack her. It fact, like she somehow knew we were mages. How did she know? I needed to know!

"Sorry, I spoke out of turn, I'm just tired, I think we came from that direction!" I shouted, leaping to my feet. Blonde hair, swished around my face and I marched off in the random direction I had pointed in. That clearing was big, we would hit it eventually.

*~*~L*~*~*A~*~*~*T~*~*~*E~*~*R~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Eventually had come and gone, and we were still walking. I was wrong. I lesson I learned quickly. So we turned back trudged to the rock, and waited for Erza to evaluate the situation. After wearing a light track into the grass, she finally focused her attention in a diagonal path, away from where i led the group originally. Show-off.

Natsu's high energy did not rub off on everyone else, and in fact I drifted closer to Gazille, his shadowy, stoic, aura was blessedly calm.

We walked for a while, and suddenly in the distance, there it was! The sun fell through the trees thickly, and bright patches of sky shone in the distance. We arrived! I felt like a weakling, grumbling about when we would arrive to do something exciting, or being exhausted from all this walking, especially compared to Levy who was still bouncing along. Maybe being in a relationship gave you superpowers?

Natsu noticed the clearing too and prepared to bolt, as he streaked by, Gazille lashed out and grabbed him by the collar of his vest. The dragon slayer fell the ground with a thud, and rubbed his neck as he sat up.

"What was that for?" The Iron mage rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"From what I understand, you scared this girl off last time by charging into the clearing, there is definitely human scent up there. If you charge into the clearing, she might run again and we'll have no chance to ask about the forest rumors." Natsu dropped his head and half-closed his brown eyes. He hated listening to Gazille, him being right didn't improve the situation. Erza marched up and yanked the mage to his feet.  
"Stay with us." she ordered and strode off in the direction of our destination. Natsu wide-eyed nodded obediently and followed without a complaint.

A soft clink echoed from her armor, but no sound otherwise, the six of us remained as silent as possible… For nothing. It was empty. The stones that once built the campfire were now strategically placed around the edge of the woods, and the ashes strewn around to appear as if no fire ever existed. At least according to the ever astute Levy. No footprints, no blue flames, and to Happy's delight, no ghosts. The exceed had been quieter than normal, and it was the first time I noticed he looked shaken. Maybe I was enjoying the silence of his useless comments.

"She was here!" Natsu announced, gulping air through his nose.

"Recently." Gazille finished, ignoring the look Natsu cast his way. The black-maned mage gazed expectantly at Erza, awaiting command.

"Then lead us to her!" She stated, red hair moving as she shook her head, even Erza had a level of obviousness she expected everyone to know. Using it as permission to run, Natsu tore off in the direction of his nose, Gray close behind, Happy, plastered a thin smile on his face and gave a shaky.

"Ay!" before fluttering off after the dangerous duo. I silently cursed running and trailed behind everyone else. It didn't matter if rewards were high in this forest. I wasn't coming back!

Natsu slowed to a halt, the rest of our party following suit. 'There' He mouthed, motioning to the forest ahead. And he was right! A person walked cautiously through through the trees. SHe was tall and graceful, her footfalls barely audible. From her concentration on the ground, I guessed she knew the woods well. Or at the least, she knew where she was headed. Erza held up three armored fingers and counted down. After one passed, we all stood to full height and pushed past the undergrowth. She stood up to attention gazed at us harshly. Determination radiated off her. It was definitely the girl from the earlier same dark hair, with the wisp falling between the eyes. Same scraped and scared arms, covered by a tattered shirt. The same guarded fear in her icy blue eyes.

"I won't go back."

**Late update... I know. But no one is begging me to update immediately so I didn't exactly feel rushed. But thank you Kit-Catstar for reviewing :D Hpoe you guys enjoyed this chapter :3 **

**Peace out world! :P**

**-Skystar**


	6. Chapter 5- First Impressions

Chapter 5

"I won't go back." Alveri's death pushed it's way to the front of my mind. One month gone and I wasn't ready to let go. Hiroki could send all the mages he liked. I had no plans of returning to Night Haven. Mustering up the jauntiest smile I could conjure, I looked at the lead red-haired mage. She accepted the gaze head on. I analyzed silently, and the six were aware, they squirmed under my gaze. Six Fairy Tail mages, a few different from before, plus the blue Exeed. Erza Scarlet, Gazille Redfox and Natsu Dragneel three powerful mages. How had Hiroki managed to hire these guys? I must be worth quite a pretty penny. I was weak and hungry last time, but now, I was powered up. I could win. I subtly mouthed a word, no sound escaping my lips. Now let's see how far I could push them.

" You have two options." I stated firmly. "Turn back, or be attacked." I tilted my head as the end of my sentence rose upwards." The eyes of the three males flashed, a flare of battle sparking. The iron mage on the back edge flexed his fingers, silver claws slipping from the tips of his hands. I mimicked his movements and obviously allowed my own claws to grow from my nails. They stabbed my palms before I one by one flexed them out menacingly. With a smirk of his own, the fire mage lit his hands and charged towards me.

"I'm all fired-" He recoiled as he hit my mist shield. A pale luminous blue pulse spread from the impact, revealing the dome surrounding me. The fanged mage remained stunned for a moment before shaking his head and curiously tapping the dome. "What?"

A puff of air escaped my nose, filling in as laughter. The ice mage… he had a color name didn't he? Blue… Silver…? Walked up quietly and experimentally placed a palm on the shield.  
"Like the fire…" He whispered. The mage with sombre hair gritted his teeth and placed a flat palm against the mist dome. Frost formed beneath his palm, and ice crystals flowed all around, until the entire shield froze. He gave a tight grin, "It's just water." I reached up and flicked the ceiling.

"Hm… you got me, it's mist. I'm free." I placed my thumbs in my back pockets, straighten my left leg, and shifted all the weight to my right. "Come and get me." I let another smirk paint my face. This Natsu character was beginning to grow me. His main emotion seemed to be 'Attack the taunt'. This time the blonde one… Lucky, Lili, Lucy, Lacy? Something like that, tried to grab him by the collar and yank him back, but he was already gone. His extinguished fist burst through my icy dome. He stood panting for a moment, hand still curled up. I tilted my head slightly.

"That's odd, there should be a." My words stopped as Natsu let out a wail. Pale electricity crackled around him for a moment, then faded. He drooped and breathed harder than before, retracting his fist from my domain. Ah… storms are just so lovely…

"Why you!" Gazille cursed and leapt towards me, arm dissolving into a metal bar. He smashed his arm down onto the top of my ice fortress and it cracked, then shattered into beautiful glimmering fragments. A natural smile tugging at my lips, I raised an outstretched and glass-like shard fell onto the pads of my fingers. It was cold, and my movements were slow, as in swooping motions, I examined the frosty ice shard. i bent my fingers back, allowing to fall. I blinked and recovered. I turned and stared head-on at the newest attacker.

"Now, now, let's not be hastey. I haven't even had my warm-up yet." I surveyed the group of mages. Who could I enrage? Anger clouded thoughts. These mages wanted to drag me back, so I would show no mercy. I pointed at Color-name. "How about you?" His dark blue eyes flashed, and he pulled his weathered hands together.

"I am no one's warm-up!" He charged at me screaming ,"Ice-Make LANCE!" Long icy spears burst from his palms and shot towards me at all angles. I managed to dodge a majority of the lances, but three managed to connect with my skin. One tore through the edge of my arm, whizzed through my leg,and the other hit my stomach. I was impressed. The spear hurt, but didn't spear a hole in me. How polite. I ignored the red leaking down my arm and stood up straight. I cupped my heads on top of each other. I could feel clouds swirling into an orb in my hands.

"Storm-wolf Slash!" Forcing my palms outward, an inky, rubber looking X of light shot to the ice mage. It slammed him back into a tree. "Phantom- wolf howl!" I tilted my head back, and launched it to face Color-name. I gave a dog-like howl and ghostly purple solid looking wind, laced with dark gray appeared in front of my mouth. It eddied into a vortex. The mage was still stunned from the tree hit, and I couldn't see him as my magic swallowed him up. My note ended and the fog cleared. He was panting heavily head hanging down. He struggled to his feet. I turned around to the rest of the team.

"Well, he obviously needs a break, so who's next?" Gaping faces were in front of me. The blue cat cowered behind Lili.

"Fire Dragon ROAR!" The rosy haired made put a curled hand to his mouth and blew a vortex of flames in my direction. Again the amazing control of the flames surprised me. It didn't burn, but the force and pain of the attack was evident. I covered my face, but raising my arms in an X formation. My hands took the brunt of the attack, and unfortunately my knuckled were roasted. The fire cleared and I shook my hand, trying to let the cool winds, soothe the stinging skin. Color-name had joined his friends and stood with them open mouthed. I wasn't a charred puddle on the forest floor, for me that's usually a pus.

"The few who survived that…" Erza started.

"Weren't human…" Natsu finished. I let my smirk come back again, and decided to leave, They were too reluctant to attack, I wasn't going to inflict pain on those who wouldn't hurt me.

"Oh, I'm just as human as you. _Salamander._"

** Alright! Our two narrators meet! Let me know how I wrote the fight scene. I know... It's pretty bad. But they'll get better as the story progresses. An d I knwo the fight is a bit one sided... But Kaliska was having a "i-feel-like-I'm-on-top-of-the-world" moment. Well thanks for reading everyone, and I'm open to anyone who know how to write Fairy Tail fight scenes. It's had to trasmit scene that are normally written in pictures... **

**Read on! :3 **

**-Skystar**


	7. Chapter 6- Processing the Demoness

Chapter 6

And with that she stalked off into the woods. That little, tricky, devilish…! My thoughts weren't even coherent anymore. Gray was unstunned now, though his core hurt from the few attacks she launched.

"Damn. Well, that hurt." Gray stated. "I don't think there's any ghosts here, just one strong angry mage."

"Won't go back where?" Erza pondered. Her hand tightly gripped her sword. One more word and that girl would have been mincemeat. So she could throw a few strong attacks, she wouldn't have beaten Erza, she couldn't have. Could she? And those eyes. Cold, calculating, like she knew who we were. Suddenly, Levy gripped Gazille's arm tightly.

"Erza? Didn't you mention there were mages with quests in the area with ghosts?" The redhead nodded, a flicker of question on her face. "'I won't go back.' Maybe she's escaping something. She could need help!"

"Cowards don't need help…" Natsu murmured through gritted teeth.

"Coward?" I questioned, turning my attention to the black-eyed mage.

"Yes! Coward! Who attacks a who strong blows, dodges all attacks then runs away? A coward that's who!" Natsu paused then pouted. "We didn't get a chance to have a good fight…" Happy walked over and awkwardly patted Natsu's hand.

"Next time." He tried to keep a sing-song voice, but it faltered. The idea of ghosts still plagued him. The cat turned to Erza. "Let's go home!" She nodded softly, still peering in the direction of the mage. Levy still seemed distressed.

"There has to be something more! She needs help! I can tell! We need to go find her, help her, question her!"

"Enough." Gazille muttered, placing firm hand on her shoulder.

"Help?" Gray whirled around. "Help? She seems self-sufficient to me! The little devil slammed me into a tree! She seems to be surviving just fine! Meanwhile, anyone gonna notice the one with a possible concussion?"

"Shut up frost face!" Gray glared at the insult but quieted down. Gingerly tapping his back, he winced but leaned silently against a steady tree. The short bluette continue to protest,

"But it makes no sense! She's living in a forest for crying out loud! Unless you're on the run, no one does that! Gazille?" Big, desperate, hazel eyes turned to her boyfriend. The ebony haired mage pulled her a bit closer, but continued staring straight ahead.

"She doesn't seem to need help, let it go." He gently squeezed her shoulder. She huffed and stomped her foot angrily but calmed down and leaned into the taller mage. The scarlet haired mage nodded lightly, snapping out of her daze.  
"Gazille's right. We've done enough exploring for today. Let's go home." Natsu who was searching the trees for a glimpse of his opponent perked up suddenly.

"What!? No! I need to win! Wipe that cocky smile off her face!" Flames licked the tips of his fingers. I glanced around at the woods around us and stated the obvious.

"Guys…? The sun in setting…" As we stood around arguing, dark golden light dappled the trees slanting steeply and casting tall gray shadows all around. The clouds streaking the sky began to gain more of a rosy color, and the sky edging an indigo pigment. Everyone looked up and grudgingly agreed it was time to return home. All but Levy that is, she still believed that whoever attacked us needed help. Personally, I believed she was a rude, cocky, demoness who needed a quick dose of Natsu's fire to set her straight! I hated the way she looked at us, you could almost see the gray creep into her eyes, as she gave us that steely, calculating gaze. It was like she knew all about us… Even Happy! Most normal people think, why the heck is there a blue flying cat cowering behind us? Instead she looked at us… and then manipulated Natsu! What kind of a person does that? Well, apparently her.

On the other hand however, there was a definitely a fear factor in there somewhere. Levy was right, panic had crossed her face and she told us "I won't go back." She was running… Could she really be a runaway like… me?

"Lucy!" I was snapped out of my thoughts, and whirled around to see Happy waving me over, the rest of "Team Natsu" already wandering back towards home.

"Oh!" I went into gear and started walking (again…Ug) falling into the rhythmic pattern of the everyone else's footsteps. I found myself alongside Erza who kept her eyes trained straight ahead.  
"We're not going to get lost this time… right?" A thin smile pressed it''s way onto the wizard's face.

"Well I'm leading this time, so there's a better chance of less walking in circles." I laughed. It wasn't that funny of a joke, but a somber mood seemed to have settled over everyone after the weir encounter. It was unnatural. Even Happy wasn't talking. in most cases, something drastic must have happened for Happy to be silenced, like fish going extinct. A few curious glances shifted my way before I gave up in breaking the atmosphere. After the silence crept up again, i tried once again to spark conversation.

"Erza, what did you think of her?" She paused, and her eyelids slumped a bit in thought.  
"Well… she was interesting… Strong… Do you want me to keep going?" I shrugged noncommittally,

"I mean what do you think she 'won't go back to'?" Erza looked over, her big brown eyes still calm.

"Who's to say? Maybe bad parents like you, or bad friends, like those at the Tower of Heaven." She voice betrayed no emotion, but I knew that it must hurt her to bring up her friends that worked for the evil in the Tower of Heaven. After that, she ended her brief answer and continued to gaze ahead. I couldn't help but be bummed out by the current mood. After that girl, it was like a the energy and happiness of our group evaporated. I hated it! Sure the normal babble that everyone had was annoying,though it was a heck of a whole lot better than this current awkward silence. Oh well, hopefully the walk home would be short. And atleast this time our troubles didn't have Natsu at the root.

**"A smile can get you through the toughest situations-even if it's a fake one..." **

**~Skystar**


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